Saturday, August 01, 2015

1800

Took the P320 to the range yesterday. Fired 100 rounds total with no malfunctions of any type to report.

Did some chrono testing while I was there...

They're pink so you know that they're like ammunition, but for girls. I was worried that the Critical Defense Lite load would amount to little more than .380 Long Rifle. It uses a light-for-caliber 100gr bullet traveling at a claimed 1125fps from a 4" test barrel. The numbers for a 10-shot string from the actual 4.75" tube on the P320 were close to the box flap claims:

LO: 1110
HI: 1154
AV: 1140
ES: 44.18
SD: 13.67

Like most Hornady ammo I've tried, it's remarkably consistent stuff. I found three of the spent cases in the empty chrono box by my right elbow, indicating that they weren't ejected with a ton of force, and I do have to wonder how much margin of error you have for running the gun with a 100gr bullet at ~1100fps. That's not a whole bunch of recoil energy. I need to get more of this ammo and see how well it runs this duty-size gun with a less-than-perfect one-hand grip.

Remington's selling their "High Terminal Performance" line of JHPs ammo in 50-round boxes with sealant on the primers, which tells me that they want LE agency biz. Let me Google something...

...yup Remington's LE- and Military- specific pages haven't been updated since '11 and '10, respectively, and this stuff appears to be their old line of regular JHPs with new frosting on the packaging. It's hard to say, since their web info is such a soup sandwich. I'd try and compare test velocities to what's claimed on the website, but the website data doesn't seem to include 9mm for some reason.

Anyway, here's what I got:

LO: 1224
HI: 1294
AV: 1254
ES: 69.14
SD: 21.54

After the Critical Defense Lite, it was a reminder of why some folks might want Lite ammo, and had enough muzzle flash that a little of it was visible in the dappled shade on a sunny afternoon. It did run the gun with authority, however. I kinda have to wonder about the bullet's terminal performance, since I haven't seen anything to tell me that this isn't old late-'80s JHP technology with shiny new buzzwords on the box. If you work for Remington and you're reading this, feel free to drop me a line.

The New Hotness: Federal's 147gr HST in +P flavor.

LO: 970.8
HI: 1050
AV: 1010
ES: 79.80
SD: 25.86

As an example of lot-to-lot variations, this was illustrative, since it was actually slower than my last run of standard pressure 147gr HST out of the M&P, which has a half-inch less barrel. Also, that last batch of standard-pressure stuff was some of the most consistent ammo I've tried, while this +P stuff was pretty average in that department.

I finished up the day with 70 rounds of 115gr CCI Blazer, dinging the steel plates at 25 yards, which is a lot of fun with the P320.

This brings the total to 1800 rounds fired with one failure to feed (#978) and three suspect primers (#903, #1323, #1495). The firearm has not been cleaned or lubricated in any way..